Substantial amounts of crops are lost each year to fungal diseases caused by soil-borne fungi. Present control measures include the use of resistant varieties of crops and practices directed toward avoiding or reducing initial inoculum, such as delayed planting, and in the case of peanuts, soil fumigation. Fumigation is expensive and conventional fungicides have heretofore not been identified that can economically control such fungus caused diseases as red crown rot. Consequently, there is a great need for ever impoved fungicidal formulations to mitigate these problems. It has unexpectedly been discovered, by the inventors hereof, that two classes of compounds, both of which are known herbicides, exhibit fungicidal properties, particularly against Calonectria crotalariae, a soil-borne fungus that attacks soybean, peanut, papaya, blueberry, as well as other plant species.
The fungicidal compositions of the present invention are selected from: (a) a compound selected from the N-phosphonomethyl glycines, and salts thereof, sometimes herein referred to as the glyphosate derivatives; (b) a compound selected from the 2-(2-imidazolin-2yl)quinolines, and salts thereof, sometimes herein referred to as the quinoline derivatives; and (c) mixtures thereof.
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, compound (a) is the isopropylamine salt of N-phosphonomethyl glycine, and compound (b) is 2-[4,5-dihydro-4-methyl-4-(1-methylethyl)-5-oxo-1H-imidazol-2yl]-3-quinoli ne carboxylic acid.